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Lot Essay
Reference 2497 is without a doubt among the rarest, most attractive and important vintage complicated wristwatch models ever made by Patek Philippe. Only around 50 examples in yellow gold are known publicly today and the present watch is one of around only 20 watches with the second series dial type with applied gold lapidated indexes. Last seen at the now legendary “The Art of Patek Philippe” auction in 1989, the present watch has been very carefully looked after over the past 32 years and will no doubt impress collectors with its strong and generous case proportions, well defined stepped lugs and clearly visible hallmarks under the bottom left lug and under the top right lug. The second series silvered dial, made by Stern Frères on a solid gold plate, is in superb overall condition.
Reference 2497
In production from 1951 to 1964, and over these 14 years a meagre 115 pieces were made in total. This means an incredibly low output of roughly 8 watches per year. It is powered by the 27SC Q movement, a perpetual calendar upgrade (Q stands for Quantième Perpétuel) of the best manually wound center seconds movement of the time: 27 SC (SC for Second au Centre). In fact, a specific movement number range was reserved for these movements: from 888’000 to 888’178, no other highly complicated model of the time was reserved a specifically dedicated movement number range, this suggests a total of 179 movements, 115 of them used for reference 2497 and the rest for its waterproof sister model, reference 2438⁄1.
The case of reference 2497 is a virtual carbon copy of the case of reference 2499, without of course the chronograph pushers. As with reference 2499, the case design presents an evolution over time. The first cases were made by Vichet (maker’s mark 9 in a key), the majority, such as the present watch were cased by Wenger, featuring a domed case back and slightly downturned lugs.
Provenance :
Antiquorum Geneva, ‘The Art of Patek Philippe’, 9 April 1989, lot 153.
Literature:
Examples of reference 2497 are illustrated in: Patek Philippe Wristwatches by M. Huber & A. Banbery, second edition, pp. 285 & 287, and in:
Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches, Volume II, pp. 295.
Also illustrated in: the Blue Book 1, by Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 512-.
Reference 2497
In production from 1951 to 1964, and over these 14 years a meagre 115 pieces were made in total. This means an incredibly low output of roughly 8 watches per year. It is powered by the 27SC Q movement, a perpetual calendar upgrade (Q stands for Quantième Perpétuel) of the best manually wound center seconds movement of the time: 27 SC (SC for Second au Centre). In fact, a specific movement number range was reserved for these movements: from 888’000 to 888’178, no other highly complicated model of the time was reserved a specifically dedicated movement number range, this suggests a total of 179 movements, 115 of them used for reference 2497 and the rest for its waterproof sister model, reference 2438⁄1.
The case of reference 2497 is a virtual carbon copy of the case of reference 2499, without of course the chronograph pushers. As with reference 2499, the case design presents an evolution over time. The first cases were made by Vichet (maker’s mark 9 in a key), the majority, such as the present watch were cased by Wenger, featuring a domed case back and slightly downturned lugs.
Provenance :
Antiquorum Geneva, ‘The Art of Patek Philippe’, 9 April 1989, lot 153.
Literature:
Examples of reference 2497 are illustrated in: Patek Philippe Wristwatches by M. Huber & A. Banbery, second edition, pp. 285 & 287, and in:
Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches, Volume II, pp. 295.
Also illustrated in: the Blue Book 1, by Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 512-.